Unsafe
by beaniek4
Summary: 5 murders have happened around the town of Ibaraki, Japan, with all of the victims being adults. Because of this, Lai and Nina think they're completely safe... until they get kidnapped themselves.
1. Chapter 1

Unsafe

_I push myself farther into the corner as he looks at me. I wish that I could just push myself through the wall. I want to get out of this Hellhole and live in peace. I squeeze my eyes tight as he walks over to me. The sound of his footsteps getting louder and louder chills me to the bone. I wrap my arms around my knees and slowly open my eyes. The man is in front of me now. He kneels down to my level and says, maliciously, "You're next". I gulp and start thinking of the things that might happen to me._

_He grabs me by the arm and yanks me up. He leads me to an old wooden door. The door squeaks as the man opens it. His grip on my wrist tightens as he pulls me into the dark room. When the door's shut, the man and I are surrounded by darkness. I wonder what he's planning to do to me. Hopefully he'll end my suffering quickly by killing me. I want to die right now. I don't want to have to go through any kind of pain. I want this all to be over. _

_The man turns on the light and it takes me awhile to adjust my eyes to the sudden brightness that's coming down on me. The first thing I see after my vision returns to normal are blood-covered corpses lying all over the floors. One of them has very severed arms and legs, along with choking-marks on its neck. Another has lots of bruises and no head, while the one next to it has its stomach cut open with some of its organs spilling out. I recognize the actual stomach, the liver, and the intestines. The other 2 corpses have similar wounds to the other 3, which means that it's possible I'll end up like one of them. _

_I feel like I'm going to throw up but I don't. I turn around and see the man holding a bloody knife in his hand. His eyes are lifeless and his smile is frightening. He narrows his hollow eyes, although his creepy smile never leaves his face. As he walks towards me menacingly, he says, "It's time…"_

Just when my friend thought life couldn't get any worse, it did. For the past several days, she has been nothing but grouchy and rude, although you can't really blame her. 4 days ago, she sprained her wrist by falling out of a tree, because she had landed weirdly. The day after that, she found out that she had lice, which is why she has to wear her hair in a ponytail from now on instead of letting it down like she usually does. The day after _that_, her parents had told her that they were getting a divorce. She told me that the only good thing that came out of that was that she'll be living with her mother here, which means that she'll still go to school with me. Yesterday, she missed the bus, causing her to have to walk to school, and that, while doing so, a hobo dumped a plastic bag of garbage onto her. She had been lucky to get the stains out, although the smell stayed, even after she sprayed some perfume on. Then, this morning, she learned that her very old beagle, whose stomach drags on ground, had died.

"Don't worry, everything will get better soon," I say, trying to cheer her up as we walk down the hallway towards history class.

She frowns. "When's soon, Lai?"

"Soon is soon, Nina," I reply, smiling.

When we get to the door that leads to our history class, we stop talking. Inside the classroom are 5 rows of 6 seats, a bookshelf in the corner, and the teacher's desk in one of the corners of the room. On the wall that all the desks face is a chalkboard and an Eno Board. On the wall that's opposite of the door is a giant window with burgundy-colored curtains that are pulled back, revealing the sun that's shining through. On the back wall are a bunch of posters of sayings like "Do your best" and "Work hard", along with some football posters, since our history teacher, Mr. White, is a big fan of football.

I sit in the 5th row in the 3rd seat, while Nina sits next to me in the 4th seat, which means that, if we are talking, Mr. White will most likely not notice.

Nina and I sit down in our seats. Some of the other students that were in the room before us do the same. A group of students enter the classroom. They sit down in their seats, too, and start talking to the people around them. I want to talk to Nina, but I know that she'll just be a drag. She's not happy right now, and when she's not very fun to talk to when she's mad. I look at her and see her writing in her black and white spiral notebook. She has this one rainbow-colored spiral notebook that's filled with the notes we have had. She loves to pass notes with me in class, and when she does, she uses that notebook to secretly hand to me any of our teachers aren't looking, so we can have conversations with each other during class without actually talking.

While Mr. White is explaining how we need to get ready for 8th grade, even though it's only the beginning of the 3rd quarter, I feel a light tap on my arm. I turn my head and see Nina holding the rainbow notebook slightly out from under her desk, telling me that I need to take it from her and read what she has written in it. When Mr. White turns around to face the Eno Board, I quickly take the notebook out of Nina's hand and set it on my desk. I skip through the pages that are already filled with conversations, trying to find the one Nina had just started on. When I find a page that only has one sentence on it, I stop turning the pages and look at what the note says.

_Have you heard about the murders yet?_

I raise an eyebrow in confusion. What murders was she talking about? I haven't heard anything about any murders. I guess that makes sense, though, since she's the one who likes to watch the news in the mornings and at night, while I'm not into TV that much.

_What murders?_

After I write my reply down, I secretly hand back the notebook. Nina reads what I have written down and then writes down her answer. She sets the notebook under her desk and the kicks it towards mine. I pick it up and look at it.

_The 5 murders that have happened all over Japan._

We go back and forth between writing in the notebook. By the end of class, I have learned that there have been 5 murders around our hometown, Ibaraki. All of the victims have been adults, but, unfortunately, none of them have been found yet. If the murderer had also targeted kids, I'd be scared, but since he has only killed adults, I'm not as worried as I should be. I know that Nina isn't scared, either. It takes a lot to scare her.

I guess that, since the murderer is only an adult-killer, Nina and I, along with all of the other kids and teens, don't have anything to worry about.

**A/N: **Hey, everybody! I hope this was a good story so far. Anyway, I'd like to tell you guys something: the part that's in the italics at the beginning is a part from the future XD


	2. Chapter 2

I walk down the sidewalk with Nina by my side, her ponytail slightly swaying from side to side with every step she takes. Nina and I always walk to and from school together since our houses are right next to each other. Sometimes, when the weather isn't good, we take the bus, but, usually, we walk, which is probably why we're very fit for our age.

The sun beats down on us as we walk. A light breeze sways the grass and the leaves on the trees. I notice that there are more dandelions in the grass today than there was yesterday. Nina picks up one and blows on it. The seeds fly through the air and then land on either the grass or the sidewalk. I'm guessing that there'll be much more in the grass tomorrow. We walk a little more until we get to two houses that are right next to each other.

Nina looks at me. "Can I go to your house for right now? I can't face my mother alone."

Nina's dad had moved out of the house 2 days ago, leaving Nina and her mother. He now lives in a nearby city so he'll be able to visit Nina every other day without having to travel very far.

I nod. "Sure."

I live in a 2-story pale yellow-brick house that includes a basement. It has a large garage for my parents' cars, with my mom driving a silver van and my dad driving a navy blue jeep. A pathway, surrounded by a bunch of different kinds of flowers of all colors made of concrete, runs all the way from the driveway to the 3 steps of the small, white porch. The porch has a light brown door that leads inside, a cheap, wooden rocking chair that we had gotten at a garage sale, and a square-shaped glass desk that has a light blue vase full of flowers and a hardback book that my dad has been reading for the past couple of days.

Nina's house is also 2 stories high, with an attic and a basement. It's made up of cream-colored bricks, with a white, wrap-around porch. The front door is a dark brown and has small little carvings in it for decoration. The roof has black shingles and a chimney.

We enter my house and are met with the living room, which consists of a medium-sized TV, a 3-seated couch, a large coffee table with a circle-shaped burgundy-colored rug underneath. A computer sits on a rectangular desk in the corner of the room with a gray wooden chair set in front of it. A bookshelf lines the wall and a lot of picture frames of me and my family hangs on the walls around it.

We sit down on the couch and turn on the TV. The news channel appears on the screen, with a man and a woman talking about a new restaurant that's opening downtown. I was about to change the channel when the man said, "There has been another kidnapping…"

I set down the remote, instantly interested in what the people are talking about.

"The name of the victim is Jin, a 52 year old man. Surprisingly, this time, the corpse was actually found," the woman said. "He was found lying in a ditch, a giant gash in his head, with the words 'Catch me if you can' written on his forehead with his own blood."

The man slightly nods. "There was no evidence found at the crime scene. The police have sent out a request that everyone needs to travel in groups until the culprit is found. More details will be shared later."

After that, the man and the woman start talking about a trial that has been going on for awhile. I turn off the TV and just sit there. The corpse was found this time? I look over at Nina and see that she seems to be just as shocked as I am about it. We sit there, heads lowered, for a little longer until Nina decides to get up and enter the kitchen. I follow her and see that she has gotten a banana from the fruit basket that's sitting on one of our kitchen counters. She takes a big bite out of the banana and leans against the wall as she chews. Neither of us says anything. I don't know why she's acting so strangely. She doesn't usually act like this when something odd or shocking happens.

"Nina, what's wrong?" I ask. She doesn't say anything. She just stands there with a bored expression on her face.

I sigh. "Nina…"

She throws the banana peel into the trash can and then walks over to me. "Do you really want to know?" she asks.

I want to roll my eyes, since it's obvious that I _do _want to know, but, instead of doing so, I just nod.

"Um, well, that man, Jin, used to work with my dad…" She looks down at the floor, as if she were ashamed of something. "He was also one of my dad's friends…"

I gasp a little in surprise. I wonder if Nina's dad knows about Jin's murder. If he does, how is he taking it? Is he acting all depressed? Is he angry?

I don't know Nina's dad that well, but I have met him before, and he's very nice. I don't know why Nina's mother wanted a divorce. Nina doesn't either. Nina once told me that if her mom ever starts dating another guy, she was going to make her mom's life a living Hell, because she doesn't want _anyone_ replacing her dad. Not even an adult that she actually likes.

Nina's mom is nice, too, although, sometimes, she can be really strict. Nina hates it when her mom yells at her. Not because she thinks it's scary, but because she thinks it's annoying. That's why she tries her best to stay on her mom's good side.

"Hey, I got to go. I'll see you tomorrow." Nina gives me a hug before heading out of the kitchen and through the front door. She walks over to her house and up the steps of her porch. Then she opens the door and goes inside, shutting the door behind her.

**A/N: **I'm sorry that this story is a little slow right now, but I promise you that it'll get better XD


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, because it was raining, Nina and I rode the bus to school. On the way there, Nina told me that she's surprised nothing bad has happened to her yet. She thinks that something bad will happen later on today, but I assure her that she has no bad luck like she thinks she does, and that she doesn't need to worry. I agree that it's a little odd that all these bad things have been happening to Nina, but I doubt it's because of bad luck. To tell the truth, I don't believe in magic or anything like that, although I _do _believe in the things that happen in the Bible, such as the miracles Jesus had performed. Also, I do like reading sci-fi fantasy books, but I don't believe that most of the things that happen in those types of books can actually happen.

That's probably why I'm not a big fan of Friday the 13th like some of the kids at school are. Whenever there's a Friday the 13th, I do all the things that people think causes bad luck, such as looking into a mirror and seeing a black cat, just to cause a small commotion between some of the other students. I find it a little funny when people get worked up over nothing. Nina does too, although sometimes she's one of those people.

When we get off the bus, we enter the school with the other students. Usually, in the mornings, Nina and I go to the library to read or check out other books. We're not the only ones who do so, though. There's about 5-10 other people who come to the library, too. Although, instead of reading or checking out books like they should, some of them talk quietly to one another, even though it's against the library's rules. Some people just have no manners for those around them, which makes me and Nina a little annoyed.

When we enter the library, there are already a few people there. We head towards the back of the large room where there are a couple of soft chairs. Nina and I sit in 2 chairs that are right next to each other against the sand-colored wall underneath a giant window that reveals the dark clouds and the rain coming down from them. Two girls walk through the opened double doors and into the library. They walk over to where Nina and I are sitting and then sit down in 2 nearby chairs that are also next to each other that are. I'm a little glad they aren't sitting with us, because, just by looking at them, I can tell they're the gossiping type. One of them has thin-rimmed glasses and orange hair that's tied into a low ponytail. The other one has braces and brown hair that's braided down her back.

"Did you watch the news yesterday?" the brown-haired girl asks her friend in a whisper.

The friend nods. "Yeah, I heard that there was another victim."

The brown-haired girl crosses her arms over her chest. "Although, this time, the body was found…"

I look over at Nina and see that her head is hanging low. The loose strands of hair that Nina couldn't fit into her black barrette hang around her face. I take a few of them and tuck them behind her ear. She sighs a little before returning to her book. I wonder if she had called her dad yesterday to tell him what she had learned about his friend. I would ask, but I know it's not something Nina likes to talk about, even though it has to do with her dad and not her. It's just that she really loves her dad. She doesn't like it when he's sad.

During 5th period, I notice that it's now sunny outside, which means that, most likely, Nina and I will be able to walk home together instead of having to ride the bus. Later that day, after I had gotten my backpack from my locker, before I could head over to Nina's locker, the 2 girls from the library this morning came up to me and blocked my path. "Hey, Lai," the girl with the orange hair said. I waved a little, desperately wanting them to move out of my way so I can get to Nina's locker.

"Can Diana and I ask you something?" the brown haired girl asks.

"Um, sure, I guess," I reply.

"Vendetta, this is a bad idea…" Diana whispers to her friend.

"But I really need to know…" Vendetta whispers back before looking back at me.

I sigh, wishing they'd just disappear for a little bit, at least until I find Nina. Right now, she's probably wondering where I am at the moment. I hate being late, something I got from my mom.

Vendetta clears her throat before putting her hands on her hips. "I was wondering… is Jin, the last murder victim, related to your friend?"

I mentally gasp. I can't believe they wanted to know something personal about Nina. Then again, they _are _the gossiping type, which means I shouldn't be so surprised. But I'm mostly surprised at how they knew that Nina knew the Jin guy. It's not like she had told them or anything like that. She's not even friends with these girls.

"What makes you think that?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

Diana looks at Vendetta, who just keeps staring at me. I wish she'd stop looking at me like that, because it's kind of creeping me out. Finally, she looks away and down at the floor. "I-I just heard somewhere that she knew him," she tells me. Stuttering: something that can help you know if someone is lying or not. Usually, when someone stutters, it's either because they're nervous or they're lying, and, in this case, it means Vendetta is lying to me.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know," I tell her. I hope they'll buy that answer and leave me alone. I just want to see Nina.

"Oh, we thought she tells you everything," Diana says.

Oh course they did. But, just because someone's your best friend, doesn't mean they tell you everything. There are some things that are meant to be kept a secret.

"But—" Vendetta starts.

"I said I don't know!" I snap. I hope they can tell they're annoying me right now so that they'll go on and leave me alone. This conversation is pointless and stupid. I mean, really, what're they going to be able to do with this information? The only thing I can think of is to use it to gossip about.

I push past them and start walking down the long hallway that leads to Nina's locker. When I get there, I see that Nina is leaning against the nearby wall with her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face. Oh no... she's mad at me for being late.

"Nina!" I call out to her. She turns her head in my direction and smiles. She comes over to me and gives me a big hug. "Oh, I was so worried. I thought you'd never come," Nina says, letting go of me.

I cast my eyes downwards and frown. "I'm sorry I'm late. There were these two girls-"

Nina puts a hand up, signaling for me to stop talking. "I'm guessing you're talking about Diana and Vendetta."

I nod, my eyes a little wide in surprise. "How'd you know?"

Nina sighs. "While I was getting my stuff out of my locker, they had cone up to me and asked me if I was related to Jin..."

"That's what they had asked me!" I say. I can't believe this... They had asked Nina if she was related to Jin and then, when, most likely, Nina didn't tell them anything, had asked me. Gossipers will do almost anything to get the info they want. I kind of understand why they'd want to know if Nina knew Jin, but that still doesn't give them the right to stick their noses where they don't belong. "Let's just go to your house now," Nina says quietly. About 5-10 minutes later, we're outside, walking along the sidewalk. Nina doesn't say anything to me while we walk. I try to pass time by quietly humming the tune of one of my favorite songs.

Before I could even start humming the 2nd verse of the song, Nina yells out, "Race ya!" and then starts running very fast ahead of me. I smile and start running to try and catch up to her. I was almost past her when she gave me a small push, slowing me down a little. I smirk and start skipping. I end up passing her, causing her to gasp. I shoot her a big smile before turning my attention back to the sidewalk in front of me. When I look back behind me, I see Nina panting. I slow down so she can catch up to me. When she does, she starts running again, much to my surprise, since I thought we were done racing. Only about 5 seconds after she started running again, she slipped and fell down onto the hard ground. I run over to her, hoping she's okay. When I get to her, she's holding her ankle and is grimacing.

"Nina!" I scream. I want to ask her if she's okay, but, for some reason, the words won't form in my mouth.

She makes one of those sad smiles at me. "I guess my bad luck isn't gone after all," she says jokingly.

I sigh. Why is she joking in a situation like this? She could've broken one of her bones! "Is your ankle okay?" I ask, noticing that she hasn't taken her hands off of it, which must mean something.

"No!" she snaps, acting as if it was obvious that her ankle was hurting very much. She must've seen the hurt expression on my face, because then she said, "Sorry."

I give her a half-smile and help her get up off the ground. Since her left ankle is hurting really bad, she has to walk with only her right foot.

As we're walking the rest of the way to our houses, a car pulls up nearby. It's an old, dark green pick-up truck with dark windows and a long, narrow dent in the side. No one gets out of the car, which I think is strange. I look at Nina's face and I can easily tell she thinks it's weird, too. Then, out of nowhere, a large hand covers my mouth, while another large hand grabs my neck. I'm thrown into the ground, the cement scraping my face. My hands are being tied behind my back and someone is putting a blindfold on me, blocking my view of the ground. After that, I feel a sharp pain in my neck, causing me to screech a little. Then my vision goes blurry and I black out.

**A/N: **I hope that was a good ending! XD


	4. Chapter 4

What happened?

That was the first thing I had thought when I had woken up a couple minutes ago, but now I know that I had been kidnapped. I'm not sure what happened to Nina. I hope she had managed to run away and get help. Unfortunately, she was, most likely, caught, too, since her ankle was seriously injured. She wasn't able to walk regularly with that ankle, meaning that she couldn't have ran away without being noticed and/or caught by the people that had captured me. I wish she had never hurt her ankle. If she hadn't, she would've been able to run away and contact the police. Then I'd be found and brought to safety like some people in movies are. But... this isn't a movie. This is real life. It's not like someone's going to appear out of nowhere and rescue me.

I try calling out for help, but my voice seems to be lost. I guess it's better that way, since something bad might happen if my kidnappers heard me yelling. So, instead, I decide to just lie there on the floor of some unknown place and do nothing. I soon get bored and start humming one of my favorite songs again.

I hear a rustling noise and start to feel nervous. I wonder what's going to happen to me now. I hear the sound of metal clanking against metal. I wish I was able to see what's going on right now.

"Mmm! Mmm!"

I hear an odd, muffled voice from nearby. I feel my palms getting sweaty. I start breathing heavily. Have they come back to kill me?

"Mmmmm!"

It was then that I realize that this person with me isn't one of the kidnappers… It was another victim…

"Hey, are you alright?" I whisper. I don't know where he or she is, since I'm still blindfolded, but, even so, because of the sounds this person has been making, I can easily tell where the person is lying: somewhere to the left of me.

I hear a gasp. It must've been from the person. He or she is obviously surprised that there's someone else with him or her.

"Nai, ih dat uu?"

At first, I don't know what this person had just said, but then, after replacing each word with one that rhymes, I figure it out.

"Nina!" I yell quietly, in case one of the kidnappers is close by.

Now it all makes sense. The reason Nina isn't sounding right is that there's something covering her mouth. Her hands must be tied together, or else she would've taken off whatever's keeping her from talking. If I wasn't so cautious about the kidnappers' whereabouts, I would've been cheering joyfully.

I slowly sit up and then manage to get myself onto my feet. Then I say, "Nina, make some noise so I can find you." I hear a rattling noise coming from my left and turn there. I take small steps to make sure I won't trip on anything. Then I get down on all 4s and start crawling. When I feel the fabric of Nina's shirt, I smile. I move my hand down her arm and then slip my hand into hers. I use my free hand to take off the long and wide strip of cloth that was covering Nina's mouth. When I get it off, I put my finger to Nina's lips, because I want her to know that she should be quiet, in case the kidnappers are in earshot. She sits up so I can untie her hands, which were tied behind her, unlike mine. After that, she unties my hands. She grabs my wrist and leads it to her feet. I feel around her ankles for a moment before realizing that her feet are tied, too. While I untie them, Nina grimaces a little, since her ankle hasn't healed yet. I feel really bad for her. It's bad enough that her parents have divorced. I don't think she deserves any of this.

I was about to say sorry when some door opened up. The light blinded me for a couple of seconds. A man was standing at the doorway. I didn't know if he was the one who had grabbed me, since I had been attacked from behind, but I'm sure he was there. I could easily tell he was strong since he had a muscular figure. He was wearing a navy blue suit with a white button-up collared shirt and a black tie. He looks like an important business man, although I know he isn't one.

He walks over to us and yanks us up off the ground by our sleeves. He pulls us out of the room and into a large gray room that has a bunch of monochrome-colored doors, chairs, couches, and tables. I notice that there aren't any windows in this place. I see a bunch of other people, such as teens and adults. I'm glad that there aren't any kids here besides us.

We're thrown to the ground, which was made of cement. The man walked away, leaving us to wonder what was going on here. We get up and look around us. Most of the other people in here are depressed-looking, while some just look bored. I wonder how long they have been in here. A lot of the people in here have ripped and tattered clothing, making me think that they have been in here for a long time.

"What is this place?" Nina asks. She sits down on a nearby gray couch so she can rest her ankle.

I sit down next to her. "I'm not sure." Of course, she already knew that I didn't have a clue as to where we were. She just wanted to say the question that was on both of our minds.

Nina leans her head back against the couch and closes her eyes, as if she was trying to go to sleep. When she opens them, she screeches a little in shock. I look at her and see that there's a young girl hovering over her from behind the couch. She has black hair that comes down to her shoulders and bangs that cover her eyes. She's wearing a dirty white spaghetti-strap dress that has torn in a few places. "Hello!" she greeted happily, which, to me, was odd, since this place doesn't seem like the kind of place that'd make someone happy.

"Um, hey," I say nervously.

"H-Hello," Nina says, stuttering a little. "Who're you?"

The girl tilts her head to the side and smiles. "I'm Kira!" she says cheerfully.

"Hey, do you know if there's any way to get out of here?" Nina asks Kira in a quiet voice.

Kira smiles again. "I'm sorry, but there's no way out of here! I guess you're going to have to get used to living with us. We're kind of greedy, especially when it comes to food, since we don't get to eat a lot. Sometimes, we have to go a whole day without food." She turns around and then leaves. I look at Nina, who has a look of disbelief of her face.

The girl had been so blunt about whether it was possible to escape or not. She acted as though she didn't mind being stuck here. Almost as if she liked it here…

A man came into the room. It was the same man from earlier. He rang a gold-colored bell that was about the size of his fist, causing everyone to become silent. "It's bedtime! Hurry and find a spot to sleep before we have to turn off the lights!"

I notice he had said "we", meaning that there's defiantly more than one person in on this whole thing.

Nina and I just stay where we are, since this couch seems like a pretty good place to sleep for the night. After everyone is settled, the man turns off the light and leaves.

"Good night," I whisper to Nina.

"Good night," she whispers back.

Then, after that, I let my tiredness take over and fall asleep.

**A/N: **All right, I know I said, in my other story, Lost, on chapter 20, that I was going to add Kana in here, but, instead, I added a counterpart of her XD


	5. Chapter 5

I wake up to a loud noise. I'm still a bit groggy, so my senses aren't quite right yet. The noise had sounded like an explosion, but it's possible I'm just being paranoid. Nina wakes up and stretches her arms out.

"I just had the worst dream ever, Lai," she says sleepily. She yawns and rubs her eyes with her balled-up fists.

I shake my head. "Yesterday was no dream, Nina. It was real." I wish it was a dream, though. I'm still scared about what's going to happen to Nina and I. I don't want to die at such a young age, and I'm sure Nina doesn't want to, either. I hope there are police officers out there somewhere searching for us.

Nina looks at me with wide eyes, and then looks all around her. Right now, she looks like a lost puppy, with her huge eyes and soft whimpering that can only be heard if you're right next to her. A pit of loneliness opens up inside of me and swallows me whole. I wrap my arms around myself. My insides grow cold and my breathing escalates.

Nina looks at me, apparently not noticing my sudden change in behavior. "We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die," she says over and over again. After she says it about the tenth time, I slap her in the face to snap her out of it. For a second, she just sits there, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open. Then she shakes her head a little and blinks a few times. "I-I'm sorry. I'm just really scared..." she says.

This is one of the only times I've seen Nina scared, since she's usually very brave. Sometimes, when she sleeps over at my house or vice versa, she tells ghost stories to scare me. I wish I was as courageous as her. Maybe then I wouldn't be so afraid to watch violent PG-13 or TV-14 shows, like those CSI things, and movies that have a lot of blood in them. I remember how, about a year ago, Nina had made me watch this one detective movie that was rated PG-13, even though we were only 12 at the time, and it had this one part where we were able to see the corpse of the guy that was murdered. It had been awhile since I had seen that movie, but I can still sort of remember what the corpse had looked like. It had bloody arms and legs, along with a slit neck and a deep cut in the head, although you weren't able to see anything inside. I can't really visualize the corpse very well anymore, but I do remember what kind of wounds that had been inflicted.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud ringing noise. I turn my head and see the man standing in the doorway with a bell in his hand. I notice that it's the same bell he had used last night.

"It's time for—"

"NO!"

Everyone turns their heads towards the place that the sound cane from. There was a middle-aged man with dirty blond hair standing in the corner if the room. The sleeves of his navy blue shirt had obviously been torn off, and the knees of his jeans were stained with a little bit of dried blood. He mumbled something under his breath before screaming as loud as he could. Nina and I cover our ears to block out the shrill cry. The man picks up a rusty wrench from beneath a nearby couch and starts swinging it around everywhere. The people around him run away in fright. He strikes a wooden table and makes a dent in it. He does that over and over again until there's a big, gaping hole in the middle of the table. I wonder why none of the kidnappers' helpers are trying to calm him down. Is it impossible for anyone to hear us from where we are right now, no matter what we do?

Nina and I just sit where we are as the man continues his rampage. After a couple more minutes, he seems to have calmed down a bit. But before anyone can go back to doing what they had been doing before he had made a scene, the man takes the wrench and strikes himself on the head with it. He falls to the ground and a small pool of blood spreads underneath him. My eyes widen as I take in the sight. I look at Nina and see that her eyes are wide, too.

The room is silent. The man, who I'm thinking is the leader of this whole kidnapping thing, just stands there at the door with an expressionless face. It's as if he doesn't even care that someone had just committed suicide. I guess that, since he doesn't care if he kidnaps someone, he won't care about someone dying.

After a few moments of silence, 2 guys run over to where the man lies dead on the ground, and drags him out of the room. I assume that they're apart if the kidnapper's crew or something like that. Another guy takes a wet mop and cleans up the blood that's on the floor. Nina and I exchange glances and then look away. What had just happened had left us speechless. I lie down in a fetal position and try to think about happy things, but it's too hard for me to do, especially since so many bad things have happened during the past week.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" I hear a voice ask me. The voice had been too high to belong to Nina, which means that...

"Kira..." I mumble to myself.

"Yeah?" she asks. Apparently, she had heard me say her name.

I shake my head and hug my knees tighter to my chest. A sudden chill sweeps over me, causing me to shiver a little, although Kira didn't seem to notice.

"Are you okay?" she asks. I'd like to ask her why I'd be happy after witnessing a suicide, but, instead, I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, since she seems very young, probably about 8 to 10 years old. I wonder if she even knows anything about the situation she's in right now. I mean, really, there's no reason to be happy here.

"Why are you so happy?" Nina asks with an edge to her voice that scares me a little. "Aren't you scared? Don't you miss your family?"

The girl, who seems to be unaffected by Nina's outburst, calmly says, "No, I'm not scared... and... I don't have any family anymore..."

I gasp and sit up, while Nina just looks away. Before Nina could say anything else, Kira says, "My parents died in a car accident. I had been living in the orphanage until I was kidnapped one day while walking around town by myself." She looks down at the ground as if she were ashamed of something.

I instantly feel bad for the girl. Someone like her shouldn't have had to go through all of that. Actually, no one should have to go through that. Although, I find it odd that she's so happy even when she has been through a lot. I guess it's possible her happiness is just a façade, but something tells me she's truly happy.

I reach out and put my hand on her shoulder. I was about to tell her something that might make her feel better when she started to giggle. It wasn't one of those cute, playful giggles that babies or young kids make. It was a creepy giggle that scared me so much I tensed up. Kira looked up and I saw that her eyes were wide and that she was smiling like a maniac.

She chuckles and then looks back down at the floor. "They deserved it… They were bad… They were bad… They didn't deserve to be happy…" My hand is frozen on her shoulder. I can't move it, no matter how much I want to. I feel a dark aura surrounding me. The tension in the air rises. I get the feeling that I'm in danger. I need to get out of here. If I stay here, I might die. I need to leave as soon as possible.

In one swift second, all of the tension, along with my fear, disappears. I'm finally able to breathe normally again. I remove my hand from Kira's shoulder and lean back into the couch.

**A/N: **You'll learn more about Kira's past and much more later on in the story XD


	6. Chapter 6

Dear Reviewers,

Because my stories aren't FANFiction, meaning that they don't include characters from actual shows, I have decided to stop updating my stories on this website. Instead, I'll be updating them on a different website called , which is very similar to , except that it's the color red and that it includes stories with OCs. My username on that website is the same as it is on this website, along with the profile stuff. I hope you'll still check out my stories, despite them being on a different, but similar, website.

Sincerely,

Beaniek4


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